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Dr. Anne Thomas is the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in the College of Nursing at Michigan State University. A member of NONPF for over 25 years, Dr. Thomas most recently provided leadership in the revision of the NP core and population focused competencies. As an adult/gerontological nurse practitioner for 30 years, Dr. Thomas has worked in rural, long-term care, occupational, and mental health care settings. She has held academic leadership positions at several universities and was the director for Research Nursing within the Medical Oncology Research Clinical Unit at the National Cancer Institute and the Director of the Health Promotion Laboratory at the National Institute for Nursing Research. Her professional work also includes engagement and leadership with ANCC, AACN, and CCNE. She is a frequently sought after for her curriculum and strategic planning expertise as it relates to NP education. In recognition of her leadership and sustained commitment to NP education and practice, she received was named a Fellow in AANP in 2012. Dr. Thomas earned her BSN and MSN from the University of Texas at Arlington and a PhD in Nursing from Texas Women’s University.

Dr. Lorna Finnegan an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Health Systems Science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She has extensive experience in leading nurse practitioner initiatives and had devoted most of her career to advancing NP education in Chicago and the nation. As a family nurse practitioner, she has focused her practice and research on caring for individuals with multiple chronic illnesses. At UIC, Dr. Finnegan has been instrumental in developing the DNP program and mentoring faculty to develop as clinical scholars and expert teachers. She has also worked extensively with international students and visiting faculty at UIC and universities in South Korea, South Africa, and Thailand to advance quality educational initiatives and scholarship. As head of the largest department in the UIC College of Nursing, she leads more than 60 faculty in 6 regions and students in pre-licensure, advanced generalist masters, PhD, and 4 BSN to DNP programs (including FNP and psychiatric mental health NP). As a result of her mentorship, faculty and students have been recognized nationally and internationally for cutting edge scholarship, teaching, and policy development.

Dr. Shannon Idzik is the Associate Dean of the DNP Program and an Associate Professor with the University of Maryland. She has practiced as an adult nurse practitioner for 13 years in a variety of settings and maintains a clinical practice at the University of Maryland Medical Center and has 11 years of experience in nursing education. She has made progressive leadership advances during her academic tenure that are well aligned with the goals of NONPF and demonstrate her ability to lead and advocate for NP education. In recognition of her leadership and sustained commitment to the profession, she received the AANP State Award for Excellence in 2012 and Fellowship in AANP in 2014. As program director at the University of Maryland, Dr. Idzik led the transition of the adult nurse practitioner program to an adult gerontology nurse practitioner program. In her role as Associate Dean of the DNP program, she led the development and implementation of the first DNP APRN programs in Maryland and continues to oversee all APRN programs at UMSON. A member of the AACN taskforce on the implementation of the DNP, she co-wrote the recently published whitepaper, The Doctor of Nursing Practice: Current issues and clarifying recommendations report from the task force on the implementation of the DNP. Dr. Idzik received her DNP, a post-master certificate in Teaching in Nursing and Health Professions, and an MS Adult Nurse Practitioner from the University of Maryland, Baltimore. She holds a BS in Nursing from York College of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Susan Buchholz is a Professor in the College of Nursing at Rush University, Chicago, Illinois. She has been a nurse practitioner for 20 years. For the past 12 years, she has maintained a faculty practice as an adult nurse practitioner in a clinic for uninsured adults in Northwest Indiana. At her faculty practice site she is a preceptor for nurse practitioner students, as well as a facilitator for DNP student project work. Prior to coming to Rush University five years ago, she was the coordinator for the Family Nurse Practitioner program at Purdue University Calumet. At Rush University she teaches health assessment and clinical management, and advises Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner students. Dr. Buchholz is the Project Director for the HRSA Advanced Education Traineeship Grant at the Rush University College of Nursing. She has received funding for six physical activity research studies, including studies completed with her Text4Walking team. These research studies have been conducted in different nurse practitioner settings, with diverse populations.

Dr. Jeanne Cartier is an Associate Professor in the Department of Nursing (College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (UL, Lafayette). She has been an advanced practice nurse for more than 30 years and a nurse educator for more than 20 years. Dr. Cartier earned a Master's degree (Psychiatric Mental Health Clinical Specialist) from Virginia Commonwealth University and her PhD (Nursing and Health Promotion) from the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. She earned a post-masters certificate as a Family Psychiatric Mental Health NP from the MGH Institute of Health Professions (MGH-IHP), Boston, MA. In addition to her current position, Dr. Cartier held faculty appointments at the MGH Institute of Health Professions and Georgia Regents University (GRU, now Augusta University). At the MGH-IHP, Dr. Cartier served as the specialty coordinator for Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing. She was a member of the DNP Task Force, the group responsible for developing curriculum and courses, and leading the implementation of the DNP (one of the first four accredited programs in the US). Dr. Cartier led the psychiatric mental health faculty in transitioning the psychiatric mental health program curricula from dual programs in child/adolescent and adult to a single life-span focus. Along with other specialty coordinators, she worked on aligning core curriculum across specialties. At GRU, Dr. Cartier served as Interim Director, DNP-NP (Primary Care) Programs. She led the task force charged with transitioning the NP program from Master's-level to a DNP only option.

Dr. Kathryn Ellis is an Associate Professor of Professional Practice and Director of Nurse Practitioner Programs at Texas Christian University (TCU), Harris College of Nursing and Health Sciences in Fort Worth, Texas. She has been a nurse practitioner for over 22 years, is dual board certified as a family and adult nurse practitioner, and has practiced in a variety of settings including internal medicine, endocrinology, family practice and an underserved clinic serving the homeless population. Prior to coming to TCU, Dr. Ellis served as Director of the FNP Program at Georgetown University from 2007-2014. She was awarded the Georgetown University Medical Center Faculty Achievement Award in 2011 for her contributions in developing and implementing Georgetown University’s first-ever online degree program.In 2014, she received the NONPF Outstanding Nurse Practitioner Educator of the Year award for her development of innovative curriculum and creative teaching strategies. Currently, Dr. Ellis serves as the NONPF representative to the Healthy People 2020 Curriculum Taskforce.

Dr. Rosario Medina is Assistant Dean of Graduate Nursing Programs and Associate Professor at the University of Colorado- Denver Anschutz Medical Campus. Her nursing career spans over thirty-two years of hospital and clinic practice and has been in academia over 23 years. She is both a family and acute nurse practitioner. She completed her formative nursing education at Pace University School of Nursing (ASN and BSN). Dr. Medina graduated from the College of New Rochelle as a Clinical Nurse Specialist with a minor in education and practiced in New York until 1992, when she moved to Florida to practice as a Clinical Specialist at Memorial Medical Center in Broward County. She later entered the academic setting at Broward College followed by Barry University’s undergraduate and graduate nursing programs, Florida Atlantic University’s graduate FNP program, and Nova Southeastern University’s College of Nursing as program director for APRN Programs. Dr. Medina obtained her PhD (2007) in nursing at Barry University. Her dissertation focused on breast cancer screening behaviors of Hispanic women in South Florida. Her research trajectory focuses on the health beliefs and practices of underprivileged populations and how to increase access to health care in South Florida and now in the state of Colorado.

Julie Stanik – Hutt, PhD, ACNPC, GNP, CCNS, FAANP, FAAN (17 – 19)

Board Member at Large

Dr. Julie Stanik-Hutt is a Professor and the Director of the Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AG-ACNP) Program at the University of Iowa (UIA). With more than 20 years’ experience in academic teaching and 40 years of clinical practice in the care of acutely and critically ill adults and older adults, she is a national leader in related APRN education, certification, practice and health policy. She has led the development of NP competencies, graduate curricula, and APRN certification examinations and is also a CCNE Accreditation Visitor. As an ACNP, Dr. Stanik-Hutt worked with patients experiencing pain, cardiopulmonary problems, and solid organ transplantation. She has published research related to pain andco-authored the landmark 2011 systematic review of research regarding the safety, quality and effectiveness of APRN care which has been used to enact regulatory changes in many states. She is a past president of the American College of Nurse Practitioners and has held leadership positions in the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN), AANP and GAPNA. Dr. Stanik-Hutt earned a BSN at the University of Iowa, MA in Education at San Diego State University, MSN at the University of California, San Francisco, a post graduate certificate from Georgetown University, and PhD at the University of Maryland. She is a veteran of the U. S. Navy.

Dr. Carol Thompson, a tenured Professor University of Kentucky teaching AG-ACNPs, was one of the first 100 ACNPs certified and has practiced and taught this content for the past 19 years. She is also certified as a FNP. She created the first ACNP program in Tennessee and as coordinator has grown the program over 18 years to include BSN-DNP as well as post-doctoral students. Collaborating with FNP colleague’s she developed curriculum for students wishing dual AG-ACNP and FNP preparation. She holds a PhD from Case Western University; a DNP from the University of Tennessee; a Post-Masters – ACNP, FNP from the University of Tennessee; a MS from the University of Maryland and a BSN from Florida State University. Her fellowships include FAANP, FCCM, FAAN and is a NIH Fellow in Genetics. She was the second nurse in 42 years to be president of the Society of Critical Care Medicine and the first NP. She has also served on the AACN national board of directors and the Tennessee Board of Nursing. She is a Black Belt Six Sigma which is the highest rank in quality improvement skills and has been applied this expertise in developing projects such as the ICU Liberation Collaborative and Thrive. She frequently speaks at national and international muiltidisciplinary conferences. Her areas of research include dyspnea in mechanical ventilated adults, pain, music therapy and simulation.

Dr. Courtney J. Young-Pitts is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt University where she teaches in the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) programs. She is currently serving on the Program Evaluation TaskForce, MSN Core Curriculum Review TaskForce, and the DNP curriculum committee. She serves as the coordinator of the FNP clinical practicum and as the coordinator of placement of students in the program who live within the Middle Tennessee area. Clinically, Dr. Young-Pitts has experience as an FNP in a family/internal medicine urban setting as well as HIV management at a Ryan White funded agency. Dr. Young-Pitts has been trained as a 2013 Southeastern AIDS and Education Training Center (SEATEC) faculty through Emory University to provide oral presentations to the Big Six audience. She has served as a preceptor for four years for students of nursing programs and physician assistant programs of the Nashville and Knoxville, TN areas. Dr. Young-Pitts received her Master of Public Health (MPH) from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in Birmingham, AL. She graduated from the Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) and Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) programs at Vanderbilt University.

Dr. Andrea Wolf is currently the Associate Professor and Director of the Adult-Gerontology NP Program at York College of Pennsylvania. She received her MSN from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984 and completed her DNP degree at Case Western Reserve University in 2004. She has been a nurse practitioner for almost 30 years, certified as Adult (1984) and Family (1999). She also became a Psychiatric-Mental Health CNS in 2007. Her clinical background includes emergency medicine, women’s health and family practice. Since 1991, Dr. Wolf has maintained clinical practice 16 hours per week at Lancaster Family Practice Associates, Lancaster PA. She began her role as a NP educator in 1994 and has been the Coordinator/Director of NP programs since1995, first at Widener University and now York College of PA. Dr. Wolf led the development of the DNP curriculum at York College of PA and directed the program from 2010 to 2012. She is currently finishing serving as Project Director of the HRSA ANE Award 2011-2014: Enhancing an Adult NP Program for Transition to Adult-Gerontology NP Program.